Like the budget version of Ocean’s 11, four thieves rolled up to a Speedway gas station with a half-baked plan to heist its entire ATM. Spoiler alert: they failed spectacularly.

A single customer was browsing an Ohio Speedway’s shelves just before 4 a.m. One employee was at the register. Then the pre-dawn quiet shattered as a minivan smashed into the station’s door. The door held, and the minivan bounced off.

The flustered driver backed up and tried again. Lieutenant Rich Slovenkay, a police detective, put it matter-of-factly: “A minivan rammed the door several times.”

Why not just open the door? The detective has a theory. The thieves were trying to smash the door “to gain entry and to knock the ATM off of its mount that was mounted just inside those doors at the Speedway gas station.”

The chaotic attempt to steal an Ohio Speedway ATM

The criminals were a crew of four. They’d stolen the minivan. But they hadn’t invested in masks. Instead, they tried to complete their heist with hoods pulled tightly around their faces. And it wasn’t going well.

ATM manufacturers do their best to anchor these machines in place. Slovenkay revealed, “They were not able to get the ATM loaded up into a second car that they had there in the same parking lot.”

That second car was a newer, gray, four-door Ram truck. These masterminds had removed its license plates—but parked it directly in front of a security camera. Now police have clear images of the getaway vehicle. After giving up on the ATM, the crew cut their losses and fled.

Slovenkay described the resulting chase: “One of our officers was en route westbound. He saw the truck enter the freeway at a high rate of speed. He gave chase along with some Willoughby officers in a neighboring city. They chased the vehicle in towards Cleveland, and then the sergeant who was on scene at the gas station made the decision to call the chase off after a certain amount of time.”

Mentor, Ohio police have another trick up their sleeves

Why did the sergeant call off the dangerous pursuit? Because he was still at the gas station and realized he not only had footage of all four suspects, but they’d abandoned their van. And the thing was probably loaded with fingerprints and DNA.

Slovenkay explained, “We’re really going to rely on some DNA evidence that we’ll collect out of the vehicle that was left at the scene to try to identify any of these four suspects that committed this crime.” The department plans to release footage and descriptions soon. In the meantime, Mentor Police would appreciate tips at 440-255-1234.